And he was bragging on the Lord,
you know, flattering Him, and the Lord just stopped him dead
in his tracks. He said, I don't need you to
flatter me. I know I've come from God. I know I'm sent from
God. I know I'm God's Son. I know
I've got a purpose on this earth. I don't need you to brag on me.
I don't need you to tell me I'm sent from God and you know that
I'm doing these miracles. Your problem is, is you've got
a heart problem. You've got a nature problem.
You've got a sin problem. You was born a natural man. You
was born flesh. You was born the son of Adam.
And if I don't, and if you don't have a new birth, a birth from
above, a birth by the Spirit of God, by the Word of God, and
you're not born by that and given a new nature, the only nature
you'll have to face God with is that fallen nature. And he
says, how in the world can these things be? Our Lord says, you
mean to tell me you're a master of Israel and you've read the
Bible? And you don't know? Well, we know that when the Messiah
comes, He's going to set up His earthly kingdom. He's going to
set up His earthly kingdom. He's going to rule here in Jerusalem.
He's going to make all the Gentile nations come here and bow down
to Him and submit to Him. And the rest of us Jews, we're
His chosen people. We're going to run this whole
world. That's how He's going to save
us. That's when He's going to, when He comes, He's going to
come in His glory like that. Our Lord says, that's not the
way I'm going to save people. That's not the way I'm going
to save Israel. That's not the way I'm going to save a Gentile.
He said there in verse 14, as Moses lifted up, He says, you
mean to tell me you don't know these things? And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the son of man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life." And here our Lord sets forth His death
using an Old Testament type, using something that happened
when Israel was in the wilderness, when Israel hadn't been out of
Egypt very long. Now, you know our Lord told Nicodemus,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
And bless God, I'll tell you, those who have been regenerated
by the Spirit of God, they see things from God's Word that others
don't see. You know, our Lord, you know,
they came to Him and told Him in John 10, said, Listen, if
you be the Christ, just come on and tell us. Just tell us
right out. He said, I've told you. I've
told you. And the works that I do, they
bear witness of me. But He says, you believe not.
Why don't you believe? Because you're not of my sheep."
And he told Nicodemus, says, you can't see, you can't enter.
And so, beloved, there are people in this world who have been born
again that see things that other men don't see. And what a joy
and what a blessing to be able to see our salvation by Christ,
our salvation by grace in the types and the symbols and the
pictures and shadows of the Old Testament. And look over here
with me now in Numbers chapter 21, and let's look at this thing
that our Lord referred to as just like Moses lifted up that
brazen serpent in the wilderness. That's what I've got to do. And
the condition they were in is the condition you're in. And
as they were saved, that's how you'll be saved. And talking
about shatters, I had our little great-granddaughter out yesterday
afternoon, walking down to get the mail. And there's a big shadow
behind us. And she kept looking over my
shoulder, watching that shadow. She was enthralled by that shadow.
And I stopped. I moved this way. She just looked.
I moved that way. She just had her eye fixed on
that shadow. Now, shadows don't do much for me. They do it for
babies. We're not looking at shadows.
We've got the substance. We've got the substance. But
here are the numbers. Verse 4, chapter 21 in verse
4. And they journeyed from Mount
Hor by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom.
And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the
way. That means their soul was grieved. They were very shortened. That
means that they didn't have any patience. They didn't have any
endurance. And the people, listen to this, and the people spake
against God and against Moses. Wherefore had you brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Brought us up out
of bondage, brought us out from being slaves to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither
is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread. Talking
about the manna. Now watch what happens whenever
you start cussing God, whenever you start finding fault with
God, when you don't like the way God does things. And the
Lord sent fiery serpents. You notice the Lord done this
now. Sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the
people. And much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came
to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the
Lord and against you. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us, and Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, set
it upon a pole, and it shall come to pass that every one that
is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made
a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass
that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent
of brass, he lived." Now, why in the world would he put a serpent
up there? Well, there's a couple of reasons why. First of all,
a serpent was what God sent among the people. And you know, it
was by a serpent that Eve was deceived. Satan came in the form
of a serpent. And that means it was guile.
He's had guile. He had subtlety. And he slipped
in there among her. And it was a serpent that deceived
our mother Eve in the garden, and God said it was cursed. He
said, Cursed shall thou be all the days of thy life. And our
Lord Jesus Christ was made a curse for us to redeem us from the
curse of the law, just as that serpent was cursed, Christ was
cursed for us. And another reason, listen, why
wasn't it one of the actual serpents that was put up on that tree?
Why didn't they take one of those snakes that would kill those
people, bit those people? Why didn't they take it and hang
it up on a tree? The poison was in it. The death was in it. What that would have meant was
the sinner hanging up there representing himself. Death representing death.
Sin representing sin. The serpent representing those
of us who are already bitten. And that can't possibly be. But
it was a brass serpent. And what that tells us, it was
in the likeness of those fiery serpents. Whatever that serpent
looked like, Moses, God says, you take a piece of grass, and
you shape that and mold that, and you make that just like that
fiery serpent. And liken unto it. And our Lord
Jesus Christ was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. When
you looked at it, He was a man. He shed tears like a man. He
got hungry like a man. He slept like a man. He got tired
like a man. He suffered like a man. But,
beloved, that's as far as it went. He was made, just like
you and I, sin accepted. He was made in the likeness of
sinful man. When you looked at him, you saw
a man, but he was not sinful, just in the likeness of it. And
all beloved, and that God made him to be sin, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the very righteousness of God in him.
And he was made like unto his brethren. Made like unto his
brethren. And this serpent lifted up in
this wilderness. Our Lord says, just what that
happened was, Nicodemus, that was talking about me. Talking
about what I was going to do to save sinners. You know, when
Moses done that, you know what he was doing? He was showing
you my salvation. That's why it says, you mean
you're a master of Israel and you don't know these things?
But why a serpent of brass? Well, brass speaks of two things.
First of all, it's an emblem of divine judgment. Whenever
you find brass in the scriptures, the first place you find it is
there in the brazen serpent, the brazen altar that's put in
the tabernacle. Why was it a brazen altar? Because
brass can handle the fire. Brass can handle the judgment. That's where the fire fell. That's
where the sacrifice was put. That's where the fire of God
came and consumed that sacrifice. And that shows us the judgment
of God against sin, against that sacrifice. And then also God
said in judgment, I'll make the heavens to be brass. You want to call on Me? You want
to ignore Me? You don't want to have anything
to do with Me? He said, you ignore Me? He said, I'll tell you what
I'll do. I'll turn and make the heavens brass when you call on
Me. They won't get through. And our Lord Jesus Christ, when
you see Him in Revelation chapter 1, what do you see Him there
with His hair white, that golden girl around His feet like an
underbrass? Fire out of His eyes. Judgment.
Christ the Judge with that And the second reason is, brass is
harder than iron, silver or gold. And it speaks of our Lord's strength,
the greatness of His strength, that He was able to bear the
awful judgment of God which fell upon him, the fire of his wrath,
the justice that was going to come on him, the judgment for
sin that was going to come on him, the fire of God that would
fall on him when he even says, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? He was saying, I can bear it.
Not my will, but thine be done, even if it kills me. Now, I read
this Five verses to you. Now let me tell you some things
here. There's seven things I want to
tell you about. Seven things that these people
were not told to do. Let's look at the negative before
we look at the positive. Seven things that the people
were not told to do, and this is what most people are telling
folks to do. They were not told to manufacture some ointment,
go out here and get you some ointment and put on that Huh? Get you some cat salve and
put on it. Just say, get you a razor blade
and cut it and split it and suck the poison out. No, no. He says, look! God says, behold,
he that looketh unto the serpent, that man shall live. That woman
who had the issue of blood, she spent, she just kept going to
doctor after doctor after doctor after doctor. The more she went,
the worse she got. Huh? People tell you, you know,
I went to Israel and I got some holy water, I brought it back.
The Catholics got holy water and they sprinkle you with it.
There's no such thing as holy water. If you ever find any holy water,
you know what can't be holy. If you touch it, that's going
to defile it, if there was such a thing. And oh, they'll say,
listen, oh, I got a handkerchief here. I got some dirt I'll send
to you. I got a handkerchief I'll send to you. I got a prayer
cloth I'll send to you. And you just take this thing
and it'll take care of all your problems. No, no, no, no. And then the second thing, they
were not told to minister to others to get relief for themselves.
That's the first thing folks want you to do when you start
coming to church, when they get you to make a profession of faith.
You go out here and start witnessing for Jesus. Go out here and start
knocking on doors. Go out here and start winning
souls to Christ. And at Easter and at Thanksgiving
and at Christmas, you go down to the local homeless shelter
and sit in there and carve some turkeys and put out some gravy
and put out some What's that other stuff they have at Thanksgiving? Dressing. Some dressing. They
put, you know, go down there and do all these things. Witness,
give tracts out. Oh, let me tell you something.
A drowning man can't be saved by a fellow who can't swim. And
a dead man can't give life to another dead man. Knock on all
the doors, cut all the turkeys, give all that Christmas gives
you to want to, that won't make your sin go away." What did he
say? Whosoever looks. They were not told to fight the
serpents. They were not told to fight them.
That's what everybody wants to do. Well, we need to start fighting
sin. Let's fight sin. Oh, Billy Sunday,
he was famous for this, and now you can find some old sermons
here every once in a while. He was famous for this. He'd
get a chair, and he'd say, we got the devil over here in the
corner. We're fighting sin, and he'd go beating him with his
chair, and he'd just end up destroying the chair. And that was in the
Prohibition. He was, oh, he was dead set against
making everybody become a teach-holder. No drinking! That devil's fire
water. Hell, he spent his ministry fighting
sin. And if God didn't save him, he
don't have a clue what's going on. Huh? Listen, beloved, you
can kill a thousand serpents. You can kill a thousand snakes.
But that won't cure you. Huh? Look and live. Oh, people,
you know, I just hear some of them fellows getting together.
Let's get us a committee together. And what we're going to do, we're
going to get a committee together. We're going to sign some folks
to go out here and kill snakes. We're going to fight drinking.
We're going to fight people going to picture shows. We're going
to fight abortion. And we're going to preach against
rock music. We're going to get everybody to quit listening to
that rock music. But not one of these things has
ever brought one soul to Christ. Ain't that right? Not one soul. You can fight abortion, communism,
pornography, every sin you can think about, but it will never
bring one soul to Christ. Make a man moral as you want
to make him. The devil is what his thing is,
beloved. He wants to wash you white, whitewash
you, instead of Christ washing you in His blood. And oh, beloved,
listen. That's what our Lord said, as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. That what? Whoever fights serpents,
whoever fights sin, whosoever believeth. And I'll tell you
something else they weren't told to do. They weren't told to make
an offering to the serpent. I know what we'll do. We'll start
giving. We'll make some offerings. We'll
get us some money together. We'll get us a We'll get us a
bunch of things to bring. We'll bring some oranges. We'll
bring some apples. We'll bring some food. We'll
bring some money. We'll give some of our time. We'll make an offering. But what can you pay? What can
you pay to put away one sin? What's the price to put away
one? And let me tell you something, beloved. Grace can't be bought
by works by free will or by merit. If it could, it would cease to
be grace. You know, Paul said it this way, Romans 11, 6. If
it's of works, if salvation's of works, then it's not of grace.
Or otherwise, it wouldn't really be work. And he said, and if
it's of grace, it cannot possibly be of works, or else grace wouldn't
be grace. And what he's saying is you can't
mix the two. Salvation's got to be entirely
of the grace of God. Works do not enter into this.
Nothing you can bring, nothing you can say, nothing you can
do, nothing you're worth, nothing you can thank, nothing you can
pray, not a tear you can shed that will make God give you grace. Grace was given us in Christ
before the world began. The minute He owes you grace,
it ceases to be grace. And the minute you bring a word
to buy it, it ceases to be grace. So don't bring no offering. Don't
bring no offering. And, oh, beloved, they weren't
told to pray to the serpent. They weren't told to pray for
it. They said, oh, come on up here and pray through. What does that mean? I'm often
wondering. You know, we used to use that all the time. You
hear people talk about that. Pray through. What does that mean?
Pray through. Pray through what? What is it
we're praying through? What is it there that we need
to get through that we have to pray to get there? Oh, he says, look and live. Look
and live. Mary's going through a lot of
pictures and getting started way, way back down there. She
keeps coming up and putting them all together. Looking through
a bunch of pictures. And I was down in Mexico at the
place called San Cristobal, and they got a cathedral down there
that was built back in the 1500s. And we went in there, and the
first thing, and it's dark, oh, so dark. And there's all kinds
of people out front, you know, selling and buying and selling.
You know, got big markets outside there. You know, people come
outside that cathedral to make money and trade and all that
stuff. You know, that's where all religions are. Beggars are
sitting there with their cups. And so you go in there and the
first thing you see is there's this plastic statue of Mary. Great old big thing. And the
first thing everybody does when they go in there, they get down
and kiss her feet and get up on their knees and kiss her dress,
you know, the hem of her garment. And it's plastic. And then you start up through
there, and there's all kinds of people sitting up there in
the front, and they've got candles burning here, yonder, a bunch
of women over here, and men over there, and women over here. And
they're sitting there talking. They've got candles burning everywhere.
I said, what's that all about? What are they talking about?
They said, oh, they're just visiting and everything. They had babies
and stuff in there. And those candles are their prayers going
up, so they don't even have to pray. They've got the candles
lit. And then they had a casket up there, A clear plastic. I don't know if it's plastic
or glass, but they had a plastic Jesus inside there. And they're praying to that plastic
statue, got candles burning, and that makes about as much
sense as somebody saying, I need to pray through. My prayers. My prayers. If I could just be
honest enough in my prayers, sincere enough in my prayers,
God will hear me. No, no. No, no. And let me tell you something
else. I'll hurry. They were not told
to look at Moses. God says, lift up that serpent.
Lift up that brass serpent. And whosoever looks, that person,
everyone that is bitten, and whosoever looks, are you bitten? They were not told to look at
Moses. You know why? Because he was the lawgiver.
He was the lawgiver. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. You remember when Moses
and Elijah appeared to our Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.
And there they stood talking. And the reason they were there
was to talk with our Lord about what his death should accomplish
at Jerusalem. And Simon Peter and those fellas
saw them, and they said, oh my, here's Moses and Elijah, let's
make three tabernacles. Let's build one to Moses. Oh,
he's a great man. He's a wonderful man. We know
who Moses is. He gave the law. He will send
them God. And there's Elijah. Nope, he
raised the dead. He caused it to stop raining
for three years. Oh, here's a man, this mighty
man of God. God spoke from heaven. God spoke
from heaven. And beloved, I've heard Him speak.
This, not Moses, not Elijah, this is My beloved Son. Hear
ye Him. In fact, our Lord says Moses
wrote of Me. And let me tell you something
else they were not told to do. They were not told to look at
their wounds. Oh, let me see how bad my wounds are. Oh, am
I bitten bad enough? Well, you know, I'm not bitten
too bad. Oh my, boy, I've got a real bad
bite. No. And what folks want to know
is, am I a big enough sinner? Am I a bad enough sinner? Am
I a wicked enough sinner? If I become enough of a sinner
and become bad enough sinner, conscious of my sin enough, then
God will save me." No. No. They that were bitten. He
says, whosoever's bitten, when that serpent's lifted up on that
pole, whosoever looks shall live. And all that was necessary to
looking was, are you bitten? And you know, there's folks here
today, they've been bitten. They've never been bitten. And they ain't
gonna look. You've met a lot of people that
ain't been bitten, haven't you? But I know some that's been bitten.
And I know that everybody's been bitten whether they know it or
not. I don't care who you are, I know you've been bitten. You
may not know it, but I know it. And Moses knew it, and God knows
it. Now let's look at the serpent
lifted up. Back over here in verse 8, Numbers 21. Let's look
at this serpent lifted up. First of all, God provided this
serpent. God provided it. It said in verse
8, And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and
set it upon a pole. And it shall come to pass that
every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall leave.
God's the one that provided this serpent. God's the one that told
Moses to make the serpent. The people were stung by fiery
serpents. The people had sinned against
God. The people had sinned against Moses. The people had sinned
against God Himself. And they were mortally wounded.
Their blood was filled with poison of these fiery serpents. And
God, in grace, God could have sent every one of you down. A
bunch of them had already died. Ain't that what it says there
in verse 6? And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,
and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. But these folks, you know, God
says, provide for them a serpent. Lift him up! Lift him up. And
everyone that's bitten, and these folks were bitten, that poison
was in their blood. That poison was in their veins.
That poison was in their very body. And, beloved, it was when
they had a need that God provided it. It was when they knew that
they were bitten. And let me tell you something
about us. That's where our sin's at. It's in our blood. That's what our Lord told Nicodemus,
that which is born of the flesh is flesh. How can anything clean
come out of something that's unclean? And that's what He talks
about here, beloved. Many died, then the Lord paid
provision. And our blood, you know, in Acts
17, 26, it says this, God hath made of one blood all nations. I don't care where you go on
the face of the earth, every man comes from one man, Adam. And we were born with this poison
in our blood, we were born bitten by the serpent, we were born
with this evil nature against God. And let me tell you something
else about this serpent. God provided it, and it was lifted
up under Moses. It was lifted up under the law.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, Moses represents the law, and our Lord
Jesus was lifted up under the law. The curse of the law was
put upon Him. God sent Him forth, made of a
woman, made under the law. Our Lord Jesus Christ says, and
I, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all unto Me. This He spake of
what death He should die. And beloved, that law that these
people sinned against, that God that these people sinned against,
that nature that they sinned against, God sent Christ to bear
the judgment of that. To bear the judgment of that.
And let me tell you something else about this, sir, but not
only did God provide it, but it was hung out publicly that
all might see it. And all, everybody might see
it. Now, did everybody look? No. But it was set out publicly. God set Christ out. God put Christ
out, crucified, set Him before this world, set Him before this
generation, set Him before in His Word, set Him before in the
law, set Him before justice, set Him before Pilate, set Him
before Herod, set Him before the devil, set Him before sin,
set Him before the law, set Him before God sent him forth to
be a propitiation. God spared not his own son, but
delivered him up. God's Christ set forth in his
word, set forth in his gospel, set forth on that cross publicly,
made a public spectacle. They walked by and wagged at
him, said he can save others, but he can't even save himself. Setting forth. Have you ever
seen Christ set forth for you? Let me tell you a little story. I'm
going to write a bulletin article about this next week. God willing. There was a fellow. I may have
told you this before. If I have, forgive me. But anyway,
talking about looking. Christ set forth public. A dear
preacher friend of mine, he had a friend, they talked on the
phone an awful lot. And he assumed this fellow was converted. Talked
like a converted man, read the scriptures all the time, talked
about good books he read. One day he called him up and
said, I'm going to be baptized. He said, you are? He said, I
thought you was already a believer. He says, well, I've seen the
imputed righteousness of Christ in a way I've never seen it before. Let me tell you what he didn't
say. He didn't say, I've seen Christ. He didn't say, I've been
bitten. He didn't say, I've ever been
lost. He didn't say, I've ever been a sinner. He didn't say,
God showed me the depth of depravity of my heart. God didn't show
me my need of Christ. He said, I've seen imputed righteousness
like I've never seen. The imputed righteous of Christ
never saved anybody. It's Christ who saves. God didn't say, look to the imputed
righteous of Christ. What did He say? He said, look
to Him. What did our Lord say? No man
cometh unto the Father but by Me? Let me tell you something. If
you get Christ, and that's why he says, you look and live. He said, you look and live. And
it came to pass that everyone that looked, they lived. If you get Christ and you come
to Christ, every blessing that God has is in Christ. If you
get Christ, you get Him. Is that not right? And if you
got Him, what do you have? You have His life. You have His
righteousness. You have His obedience. You have
everything that He is. He's accepted of God, you're
accepted of God. He is righteous, you're righteous.
He's holy, you're holy. He said it's God's right hand,
you said it's God's right hand. We're seated together in heavenlies
with Christ. So I don't, you know, it's not,
I'll tell you this with all my heart, you trust a person, not
just a doctrine. You trust a person, not just
something that you say, well, this has to be true. You trust
a person. If you're bitten, he said, everyone
that was bitten, he said, lift up that brazen serpent, the lightness
of that fiery serpent, and every man that looks, he'll live. He'll live. And look at the Lord's
promise here. He says that in verse 8 and 9.
He says, make that serpent, make him, put him upon a pole, and
it shall come to pass, and watch this, it shall come to pass that
everyone that is bitten, when he look upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and watch
this, now listen, and it came to pass, I love that, and it came to pass
that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld a serpent
of brass. He lived. It wasn't Moses. It wasn't the law. None of these
could save the people. None of these. Only by looking
at that brazen serpent. Only by looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ can you be saved from sin. Our Lord Peter stood and
says, men and brethren, There's no other name, not David, not
Moses, not any of the prophets, no other name given under the
heavens whereby we must, must be saved other than Jesus Christ. Now, our Lord says no man comes
under the Father but by Me. He says, you want to know the
way? I said, I'm the way. The way to what? The way to forgiveness,
the way to righteousness, the way to justification, the way
to the Father, the way to life. You want to know the truth? I'll
tell you the truth. I'm the truth. You're a liar. You're born a liar. Your father
in the devil is a liar. He was born in sin. I'm the truth. You want to know God, you want
to know the truth? I'm the truth. I'm the truth
about God. I'm the truth about righteousness. I'm the truth that will expose
your sin. I'm the truth. And that's why
it says a man loves darkness rather than light. And that serpent was lifted up
so those who were too far gone. Now listen. Those that were too
far gone. And they couldn't even crawl
even, or couldn't even cry if they just looked faintly, faintly
in the direction of that serpent. If they just could barely see
it. Life was just fixing to leave
them if they saw it. They lived just like that. Just like that. Let me tell you something. A
serpent killed and wounded these people, and it was the serpent
that brought life and healed them by a look. And there's two
people, as far as God's concerned, in this world, Adam and Christ. There's the likeness of that
brazen serpent, and there's the fiery serpent. We're in that
fire serpent bunch. Christ is that one in the likeness
of sinful flesh. In Adam, the scripture says that
we all have sinned. And I'm going to tell you something
else about this business. It don't say sin was imputed
to. It says, as in Adam, all die, for all have what? Sinned. Sinned. And I'm going to tell
you, and oh, beloved, and yet by the obedience of one, Many
were made righteous. You see, beloved, as in Adam
we all die, even so in Christ shall we all be made alive. By
Adam came death. Christ came life. Adam came sin. Christ came righteousness. Adam
came an evil nature. Christ was made partakers of
the divine nature. Adam was separated from God.
In Christ we are reconciled by His blood. In Adam, we're as
far off. In Christ, we're made nigh. And oh, beloved, let me tell
you this, the brazen serpent healed only the wounds of the
body, only the wounds of the body,
and saved only from temporal death. But I, Lord Jesus Christ's
blood, His death, His sacrifice, His offering, He is bearing our
sins in His own body on the tree, wounded for our transgression,
not only gives eternal life, but, beloved, puts away the cause
of death, which is sin itself. He say not only heals the body,
but He heals the soul. And let me show you something.
Look over here with me in Luke chapter 9. Just a moment. Luke chapter
9. I'd love for folks to really
believe this. And I ask you again. He says,
everyone that is bitten, have you been bitten? That's the thing. Have you been bitten? I can tell
if you've been bitten or not, you start making excuses for
yourself. Start justifying yourself. Start finding a reason for not
trusting Christ. Start finding a reason to not
come to Christ. Maybe it's an old profession. Maybe it's just that I just don't
know if I have faith enough or not. I don't see my sin enough. It
don't say that, those things. You're seeking for qualifications. You're seeking for qualifications.
You want to qualify yourself to God. And oh, look what it says here
in Luke 9, 11. And the people, when they knew
it, knew what? Knew Christ was there. Followed
Him. And He received them and spake
unto them of the kingdom of God. Now listen to this. And healed
them that had need of healing. That's the way it was. Those
people that were bitten. Do you have need? All their life. You know, our
Lord Jesus Christ, He deals with the roots. He doesn't deal with
the branches. And let me tell you, let me show you this in
closing here. I've just got a few things to
say. But look over with me real quick. Over here in 2 Kings,
just a moment. 2 Kings chapter 18. This brass serpent. This brass serpent here. It lost its virtue. You know, it only healed the
body. It only saved from temporal death. But Christ heals the soul. He puts away the cause of death,
sin. And He saves and gives eternal
life. And, oh, beloved, and that serpent lost its virtue to heal
and to save and was not ever to be worshipped. You know, when
there was a time that that serpent was taken down. Everybody died,
died, and everybody lived. But now look here at verse 4,
2 Kings 18. This is Hezekiah when he began
to reign, 25 years old. And it says in verse 3, And he
did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according
to all that David his father did. He would remove the high
places, break the image, cut down the groves, and break in
pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For in those
days, for unto those days, the children of Israel did burn incense
to it." Now ain't that something? That's what people will do. You
give them an image and they're going to worship it. They burned
incense to a brass serpent when God said, look at it and live.
And oh, look what he says now. And he called it, he broke it
into pieces, and he called it Nehushtan. What's that mean? Just a piece of grass. Just a
piece of grass. But I'm going to tell you something
about our Lord Jesus Christ. He never loses His virtue. He's the one that saved Abel.
He's the one that saved Noah. He's the one that saved Enoch.
He's the one that saved Abraham. And though that serpent lost
its virtue and it was beaten up and ground to powder and thrown
away, our Lord's blood and power to save will never lose its power.
Jesus Christ is saved today, yesterday, and forever. And He's
to be worshipped forever. Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. And let me tell you this, beloved,
no matter how many times and how much poison was in a man,
how many times he was bitten, how much poison was in him, you
know what he is told to do? Look and live. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him. If you're bitten, you
look. If the eyes were weak, They could
still look and live. And weak faith, weak faith, mustard
seed faith, is as saving as the greatest faith that's ever been.
It's not the strength of your faith. It's the object of your
faith. Those folks' eyes, he says, it was the object they
were looked to that saved them and healed them. And, oh, beloved,
that's why that woman, after she lost all she had, she said,
if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. And this serpent, this serpent
was an unlikely thing to human reason, to heal wounds. I can just hear people. And the gospel, it's so reasonable
that everybody ought to believe it. And if folks really knew
what the condition is, this place would be running over with people.
We'd have done and enlarged this place three or four times if
the gospel was palatable to men's souls. But it's not. Because it confronts men, first
of all, with their sin. He says, they've cursed God.
And God sent fire serpents. Adam cursed God, denied God,
disobeyed God, and we've all been bitten. We're all born sinners. We're going to live sinners.
We're going to die sinners. People are not going to be lost. They're
born lost. People don't grow up to become sinners. They're
born sinners. And so what they do is when they
hear this, they say, oh, no, no, no, no, that's not me. That's
not my mama. That's not my grandmother. That's
not my wife. That's not my kids. You're talking about somebody
else's children. You're talking about somebody else's mama. You're
talking about somebody else's granny. You're not talking about
mine. You're talking about somebody, a heap, you're not talking about
me being a sinner. Surely not. So the gospel offends
them. And that's why, beloved, they
looked at that and fell as they say, that's the dumbest thing
Moses you've ever come up with. That's the stupidest thing. It's
like, Brandon, we love Him, but I ain't fixin' to look to a brass
serpent up on that pole. I said, that's the dumbest thing,
that's the stupidest thing, that's the foolishest thing. How you
gonna be healed by lookin' at a brass serpent on a pole? I tell you what, I'll be all
right. Oh, Christ crucified His foolishness
unto Him. Huh? And I tell you, whosoever
shall Save his life, he'll lose it. He said, I'm not going to
look. I'll save my own life. I'll save my own self. I'll do
my own salvation. I'll work my own works. I'll
do my own obedience. I'll give the best I can. I'll
give my time. I'll do my prayer. I'll join
the church. I'll save my own life. Our Lord says, you'll lose
it. But he says, you lose your life.
I'm dying. I've got no hope. My life is
useless. I'm a sinner. I've been bitten.
I'm going to die. I'm going to live." That's the
fellow's life saved. And oh, beloved, but to those
who looked, it wasn't foolishness. Oh, what power that God sent
forth here for us. Oh, the wisdom of God. And let me tell you something.
Man, by a look, was lost. He saw that the tree was good
for food, and would make us desire to make one wise. That's how
we was lost, by you looking, listening and looking. But you
know, that's the same way we was lost by look, looking at
that food. Oh, look at that. Boy, that looks
so good. And that's what sin does. It
looks good when you first start looking at it. It looks like
this would be so enjoyable, be so much pleasure in it. But boy, when she took it, and when she gave it to Adam, not only was we lost by a look,
but the sinners saved by a look. You know, the believer's life
begins by a look. God said, Look unto Me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth. I'm a just God and a Savior. And boy, we started looking.
Our life begins with a look. Look unto Me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth. And it continues with looking. Looking.
Not have looked. Looking. Look unto Me. That means
continue to look. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. It started with a look, and we
just keep on looking. And you know why it's going to
be consummated with a look? It'll end with a look. Looking
for the appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I'm looking for Him. I'm looking for Him. He may come
get me in four days' time. That'd be all right. Yeah, it'd
be all right. From start to finish, the one
thing required is looking to God's blessed Son, Christ crucified,
Christ risen, Christ exalted, Christ seated at God's right
hand. Will you look at Him? I didn't say look at yourself.
Look at the church. Look at doctrine. Look at Christ.
Can you do that if you've been bitten? You know, and I've said this
so many times, you come to Christ without moving a muscle. Do that. God help you to do it. Our Father, in the blessed, glorious,
holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing us to
have this day to meet with you people Thank you for the gospel
you give us. So plain, so simple, so understandable. Anybody, anybody understood this
today. But Lord, there are some who
are not bitten. I've got children that haven't been bitten. Grandchildren. Lord, you send that fiery serpent.
Let them be bitten. Because I know if they're ever
bitten, if they're ever bitten, Lord, they'll come. They'll come
looking. They'll come trusting. They'll
come believing. They'll come because they know
they'll perish without Christ. We bless you in His holy name.
Amen.